Elites and Organized Crime

The United States has issued an advisory to alert financial institutions about widespread public corruption in Venezuela, and called on them to report suspicious activity in what appears to be an attempt to build evidence that could help levy sanctions against Venezuelan government officials.

Colombia arrested a former Supreme Court judge in a corruption case that reaches the highest echelons of the judicial system, underscoring one of the most crucial challenges the country faces even as it continues to make strides in improving security.

Several top ministers in Guatemala's government have resigned and thousands of citizens have flooded the streets to protest recent elite efforts to institutionalize corruption, plunging the country deeper into turmoil and potentially signaling how a wave of domestic pressure could shape the outcome.

Guatemala's congress is backtracking on an attempt to weaken anti-corruption efforts following massive public outcry and a rapid response by the country's highest court, indicating that while international pressure has not seemed to deter corrupt political elites from attempting to shield themselves, widespread domestic outrage might.

The first sitting president in the history of Brazil to face criminal charges has been indicted once again, this time for allegedly obstructing justice and leading a criminal organization. Congress blocked the first set of charges from advancing. Will it protect the president a second time?

Guatemala's congress took another bold step towards institutionalizing corruption on September 13, by reforming a law to protect politicians and their party functionaries from prosecution and penalties in cases of illicit financing of political campaigns.

Brazil's federal police have created a diagram to illustrate their conception of the leadership structure of a "gang" of politicians accused of involvement in a massive graft scheme. And they put the country's president at the center of the alleged criminal organization.

Authorities in Central America have arrested hundreds of suspected gang members in recent days during coinciding operations, but their willingness to mount such large-scale efforts against gangs has not been matched by an equivalent committment to tackle recent allegations of serious official corruption.

In a huge shift of momentum, Guatemala's congress has voted to retain President Jimmy Morales' immunity in the face of corruption allegations, a clear demonstration of the willingness of the country's elites to come together and protect themselves amid investigations into their alleged misconduct.

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InSight Crime is a foundation

dedicated to the study of the principal threat to national and citizen security in Latin America and the Caribbean: organized crime. We seek to deepen and inform the debate about organized crime in the Americas by providing the general public with regular reporting, analysis and investigation on the subject and on state efforts to combat it.